As if sky-rocketing petrol prices weren't already hurting them enough, the drivers of America's fleet of Hummers, monster trucks, and gas-guzzling SUVs are about to suffer sustained public humiliation, courtesy of the green lobby.

Three years after it was first proposed, preparations for an African 'wall of trees' to slow down the southwards spread of the Sahara desert are finally getting underway. The 'Great Green Wall' will involve several stretches of trees from Mauritania in the west to Djibouti in the east, to protect the semi-arid savannah region of the Sahel - and its agricultural land - from desertification.The plan for the proposed $3m, two-year initial phase of the project will involve a belt of trees 7,000km long and 15km wide.

Naturalists are concerned for the safety of endangered California condors caught up in a massive two week-old blaze still sweeping through the scenic Big Sur area. The fate of three condor chicks born in the wild in April - key to the reintroduction in California of the threatened species - was unknown. One nest was in the path of the fire and flames damaged an aviary where captive chicks are trained before being released into the wild.